Modern aircraft can include a data network that includes a number of transmitting systems that transmit data over the data network to a number of different receiving systems that consume the data. Typically, each transmitting system is directly coupled to one or more receiving systems via direct wired connections to each of the receiving systems so that each transmitting system can transmit data over a wire to the receiving systems that it is coupled to. As such, any receiving system that wants to receive data from one of the transmitting systems has to be directly wired to that transmitting system to receive data from that transmitting system.
One drawback of using direct wired connections between each transmitting system and each receiving system is that the transmitting systems and receiving systems can be located throughout the aircraft. For example, some of the transmitting systems can be located relatively far away from the receiving systems that they are coupled to (e.g., one system may be located in the front of the aircraft and the other may be located in the back end of the aircraft). When a receiving system is located a great distance away from the transmitting systems (or vice-versa), the wire runs needed to wire the receiving system to each transmitting systems can be significantly long. This not only adds cost and weight to the aircraft, but also significantly increases manufacturing and maintenance complexity.
For safety reasons, an aircraft is usually designed to include one or more redundant versions of each transmitting system and one or more redundant versions of the primary data network that is used to couple each of the redundant transmitting systems to corresponding receiving systems. When redundant data networks are employed, the wiring burden increases even more. In addition, because each redundant data network(s) is usually identical to the primary data network, the presence of redundant data networks does not necessarily ensure that they will always be available as a backup. For example, common mode faults may impact both the primary data network and the redundant data network(s) such that both may have the same operational issue(s) and do not operate as intended (e.g., a software bug that impacts both networks).
There is a need for an aircraft that includes an improved data network for communicating critical data to various receiving systems located throughout the aircraft. It would be desirable to eliminate at least some of the wiring needed in such a data network. For instance, it would be desirable to reduce the amount and length of wiring that is required to communicatively couple each of the various transmitting systems to each of the various receiving systems. It would also be desirable to provide alternative paths for communication of critical data between the various transmitting systems and the various receiving systems. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.